Beyond the Basics: Lessons from the Nathan Gregory Interview

*Acquiring Minds is THE Podcast for Acquisition Entrepreneurs

Given my constant flirtation and endless dabbling with media business — in blogs, in newsletters, and on podcasts — a recent episode of Acquiring Minds really held my attention. As a matter of fact, I listened to it four times:

Business-Buyer Fit in a 42-year-old Media Biz | Nathan Gregory Interview

Nathan has a background in entertainment, working with some of the biggest names in the music industry. He spent time at a tech startup, and made his bones in real estate and e-commerce. Then he discovered entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA).

Nathan took the typical ETA route, looking for a profitable business in the home services field. And why not? There are compelling reasons to do so. But in Nathan’s case, he uncovered some pitfalls with the home services concept. Mainly contractor licensing in California, which he discusses in-depth during the interview. I don’t want to have to ‘spoiler alert’ for those who intend to listen, but one of those things was someone holding a license needs to be on the SBA loan. In the end, Nathan acquired a B2B media company targeting automotive body shop owners.

Takeaways.

As mentioned earlier, my penchant for media businesses has me now paying much closer attention to business/buyer fit. It’s right there in the episode title! My two criteria still remain geography and EBITDA, but I’m finding myself slowly moving towards eliminating possible acquisitions solely because they might not be a fit.

Another key takeaway, expressed by Nathan and stressed by Will, is that you don’t need an MBA from an Ivy League school to play the ETA game. In fact, you’ll find that you’re getting an MBA in ETA just by listening to the Acquiring Minds podcast. In addition, Nathan mentioned he used a peer group. He found that by being part of something where everyone was on the same journey and talking about their progress was helpful.

The final takeaway is particularly useful for those of us looking in the B2B media space: Make sure the industry you’re looking at has high CAPEX. In the case of automotive body shops, the equipment required is expensive. If there’s big, expensive equipment, there will be companies out there selling that equipment; and they will need targeted advertising. Nathan says he didn’t initially look at his B2B media acquisition with that in mind, but in hindsight it was a real benefit.